The present invention relates to an electrode for use in electrochemical analysis.
Since the development of polarography by Professor J. Heyrovsky in 1922, liquid mercury and liquid diluted mercury amalgams have been superior as an electrode material for the use of voltammetry for analytical purposes. This is mainly due to the high overvoltage to hydrogen, which enables the use of a wide potential range for the measurements. A typical example is the determination of zinc, this being virtually impossible without using a mercury; or a mercury film electrode.
Due to the toxicity of mercury and liquid diluted mercury compounds, the use of such compounds is increasingly restricted, and cannot be included in voltammetric devices for field and online applications.